First Ceremonial Dandelion and a "New" Camera!

I inherited a "new" camera today - a Canon T3 that my sister-in-law Susan received as a Christmas gift 18 months ago...  She passed suddenly last November, and while most of her estate has been settled, the camera needed a good home, so it came to me.  She had only taken 265 frames with it, I took #266 this morning... 

It's debut was with the macro lens, trying it out on the first ceremonial dandelions that I saw peeking out from our yard.  They are still far from fully open, in fact, they are hard to spot looking out the sunroom window, but easier to see in a brief walk.  This first frame, being an oblique view, benefited from focus stacking - I took 7 frames as the focus shifted from the near side to the far side of the flower (all hand held with the macro!), then the sharp portions of each were assembled in Photoshop.  It worked well, and if you load the full-size view (click on the image), you can even spot a few cream-colored aphids that I didn't spot until seeing the full-size image on the computer screen!

The second frame here at right is a single shot, looking straight down, so no need for any focus stacking - the depth of field was deep enough to keep the blossom in focus.  All pictures were taken at F/8 and 160th second at ISO 400.  Will have to wait and see if it warms enough to get any in full bloom before we return to Tucson - these are still a little shy around the cool temperatures!